


Till We Both Turn Blue

by track_04



Category: Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: Blood Drinking, Drunkenness, M/M, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 09:42:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20207659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/track_04/pseuds/track_04
Summary: Come to California, be a freak like me, tooInspired byFreakby Lana del Rey





	Till We Both Turn Blue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scorpiod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiod/gifts).

Two years after his interview with Louis, Daniel was back in San Francisco, staying at a hotel just down the street from the place where it had all happened. He opened the window to his room and left his bag on the floor beneath it, staring out at the false-twilight of the city around him, breathing in the damp air. He thought there might have been a hint of the ocean there, beneath the other city-smells, and he decided to celebrate his return with a bottle of cheap whiskey and an ill-advised walk through dimly lit back streets.

He was sitting on a park bench, the bottle in his hand almost empty, when Armand found him. It was just past 3 a.m. and the world felt empty, nothing but the image of his own futile, colorless humanity reflected back at him. Armand's cold, solid presence beside him felt like an anchor. Something that felt real enough to hold onto.

"Came to celebrate with me?" He took one last swig from the bottle and tossed it into the bushes, feeling a slight twinge of guilt when he heard it shatter. He thought about asking if Armand would go pick up the pieces, and then wondered, idly, if this would be the night that Armand finally killed him. The thought scared him less than it would have six months ago.

"You know I can't."

Daniel had no idea which question he was answering. "Can't or won't?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Guess not." Daniel turned to look at him, an inhuman relic dressed in an unseasonably heavy wool sweater and fashionably ripped jeans, a pair of sunglasses that he'd never have any use for perched atop his head. "How long have you been watching me this time?"

"Long enough." His face was pale, his usual post-feeding glow already faded.

Daniel reached up to touch his cheek before he could think better of it. Armand frowned slightly but let him, body unnaturally still and skin cold beneath Daniel's fingertip.

"Don't you ever get tired of following me around?" 

"No. If I had, I would have just killed you." Armand turned his face slightly, close enough that Daniel could feel the absence of breath against his skin.

"You still could."

Armand looked thoughtful. "Maybe."

There was a cut halfway up Daniel's arm where he'd caught it against the edge of a door a few days earlier, half-healed and all but forgotten; he only remembered it when he caught Armand staring at it, eyes hungry in a way Daniel had never seen before.

The whiskey dulled his fear as he lifted his arm higher until the wound hovered in front of Armand's mouth. He felt a surge of terror and excitement that was becoming too familiar. It was the same thing he'd felt when Armand stepped out of the shadows in that run down house in New Orleans. The same thing he felt when he opened his eyes at night to find Armand leaning over his bed. The same thing he felt when he woke after a nightmare spent running from something with sharp teeth and wide, brown eyes. The same thing he felt when he jerked off thinking about what might happen if he let that thing catch him.

Armand's tongue was cold against his skin, surprisingly gentle as it traced the edges of the cut; it was all the warning he got before he closed his mouth around the wound and sucked, the pressure breaking it open again. Armand gripped his wrist just tight enough not to hurt and looked at him, watching his face as he pulled the blood from his veins. Daniel could feel the tug of it along his arm, up through his shoulder and all the way to his heart.

He made a sound that wasn't entirely fear or want or desperation and Armand pulled away, licking the blood from his lips, eyes following the movement of Daniel's throat as he swallowed. 

Slowly, deliberately, Daniel tilted his head to the side to expose more of his neck.

Armand moved too quickly to follow; Daniel didn't even have a moment to think _this is it_ before Armand's lips found his, ignoring his throat in favor of his mouth, his kiss cold and insistent. Daniel parted his lips without thinking, felt Armand's tongue slide between them. The warmth of Daniel's blood lingered there, sharp and metallic, a counterpoint to the cold of his lips.

When Daniel started to return the kiss Armand pulled away, turning Daniel's arm slightly in his grip and eyeing the blood drying against his skin.

"You should learn to be more careful."

Daniel yanked his arm away, half surprised Armand let him, and wiped the blood on the leg of his pants. "I should start keeping better company."

There was a brief moment when Armand looked almost hurt, but it passed so quickly that Daniel couldn't be sure it wasn't just a trick of the light. Before he had time to process it, Armand rose from the park bench with an impatient look. "Show me the room where you first met Louis."

"You could say 'please'."

"Why? We both know you will."

Daniel sighed heavily and stood, too drunk to bother arguing. His arm tingled faintly as he started up the path that lead out of the park, not bothering to wait and see if Armand would follow. They both knew he would.


End file.
